Primož Jakopin, photo diary

Pictures are aproximately 533 x 800 pixels in size.
Numbers in front of the photo descriptions are the serial numbers of the original images.
Photo and copyright (c) Primož Jakopin 2014.

Above Rudno polje

21674. The place at Rudno polje on the Pokljuka plateau where the unpaved forest road branches off to the north.

21675. After about 1 km there is a crossroads where turning right is recommended.

21676. After another 600 m or so a forest road branches off to the left, but is gated. So one has to leave the car nearby and proceed on foot.

21677. Preparation of a little roadside snack before departure

21678. The menu consisted of hot water, prosciutto, garlic, cheese (Tolminc), maize bread, paprika, tomatos and watermelon, plus a homemade fruit-filled cake, hidden in the brown bag at right (the phographer forgot to take off the bag). The bag on the left is for garbage.

The trail to the cave

21679. After less than 10 minutes walk two uprooted spruces (the sleet of February 2014) can be seen at the right side.

21714. Spruce roots from the opposite side, view back (west)

21710. Some 50 meters further one has to turn slightly left into the gentle grassy slope, between the spruces; view back.

21712. Just before the departure from the road there is, at left, a spruce with a large cancer lump; view back.

21711. It is followed by a large-rooted spruce, after which the turning point comes.

21713. View of the beginning of the forest trail from the other side of the road; the trail is not visible on the ground.

21709. After about 150 m of a diagonal crossing, along and below a steep slope with walls on the left, there is a twin spruce, half of it broken by the sleet. If you come to it, you have gone too far and turn sharply left.

21706. An old, semi-dry spruce with many branches, at the right of the ravine bottom

21707. A stone marker (in Slovenian možic, pron. mozheets), about 1 m tall, at the bottom of the ravine which leads straight to both caves some 400 m higher. Možic was erected by the author of these lines on the way back; the correct ravine (there are several) was found by tracking broken grass and leaves here and there, left by Garmin, Jerica, Gilly and Diba a week ago. The cell phone signal is weak, it has to be enriched by turning the phone here and there a bit but was sufficient for Garmin's instructions. After about half an hour of fruitless searching the point where to branch off from the forest road the instructions helped to restore the lost hope - caving people are notorious for bad orientation.

21705. At the beginning the ravine is not steep-sided; a large spruce stump is a good marker that you are on the correct path (view back).

21681. Zlati pogačici / globe-flowers, Trollius europaeus; at the altitude of about 1.490 m the weak trail joins a proper old trail, coming from the left, which leads up to the Mali and Veliki Selišnik (1.952 m) mountains. The starting point of this trail is not known to the author - to be explored at some eventual future Trubarjev dah excursion.

The plateau above the cave, at an altitude of about 1.850 m

21684. The trail to Veliki Selišnik departs from the ravine just before its top end, turns right and brings the traveler to the creeping pine covered plateau between Viševnik and Veliki Selišnik mountains. The cell phone signal is however adequate and Garmin's kind instructions helped locate the scree oasis in the impassable creeping pine covered slope, some 40 meters below. The decisive information was the distinct 5-6 m tall larch tree (macesen in Slovenian) without low branches at the lower side of the scree. It was visible from the edge of the plateau. In the picture: view east over forested Pokljuka with Dobrča (1.634 m) center left and Kočna (2.540 m) in the clouds

21685. The same view, less Pokljuka, more sky

21686. View south, Pokljuka forests, sun rays, clouds

21689. View west northwest, to Mali Draški vrh (2.136 m) with a visitor, with dark clouds and an open sky on top

Platonovo šepetanje / Plato's whisper cave entrance

21693. Cave entrance is situated above the scree with Trubarjev dah cave at the bottom, below a wall.

21692. Cave entrance, close view

21691. After the entrance the cave continues with a short slope, just long enough to accomodate a human figure, after which the first shaft follows. At the time of picture taking there was a considerable drought, directed in the cave.

21695. A month ago the cave entrance was still in the snow but now a fern is rushing to exploit the short time to the next winter.

Trubarjev dah / Trubar's breath cave entrance

21698. The cave entrance is at the western side of a scree bottom. The scree is about 15 m wide (left-right) and about 50 m tall (in the slope), below a wall. A Thommen altimeter, set at the parking place to 1.450 m, showed the value of 1.800 m at the entrance.

21697. Entrance, closer view

21696. Entrance, close view - immediately after the entrance the first shaft begins.

21699. Navadni slečnik or Rhodothamnus chamaecistus not far from the entrance

From the cave down the ravine

21700. Below the scree with the cave there is a narrow belt of creeping pine, Pinus mugo, followed by the top end (pictured with two patches of snow) of the ravine which leads down to the forest road.

21703. Alpski rožni koren / Golden root, Rhodiola rosea

21704. The ravine is wider in places, usually having a scree floor, with snow patches in deeper spots, and is overgrown from time to time; a view down.